Canada’s Brad Gushue posted a pair of wins Tuesday to begin a busy stretch for his St. John’s-based team at the world men’s curling championship in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
Gushue posted a 7-4 victory over New Zealand’s Anton Hood in the morning draw at the IWC Arena and then dumped American John Shuster 8-2 in the evening session.
It was the first of four straight two-game days for the Canadian side of Gushue, Mark Nichols, E.J. Harnden and Geoff Walker.
Canada was in sole possession of second place at 5-1 behind unbeaten Niklas Edin of Sweden (6-0), who beat New Zealand 11-7 in the afternoon draw.
“We’re in a good place right now but we still have to finish, there’s six games left,” Gushue said. “If we really want one of those top two spots you probably have to win five of those six and there’s still some really good teams left.
“We’ll chip away [to] make sure we get a playoff spot and eventually once we do that we’ll start honing in on one of those top two places.”
Brad Gushue and his Canada rink crush US at curling worlds
Canada moved to a record of 5-1 at the world championship after easily defeating the USA Tuesday 8-2 in six ends.
After 11 draws of round-robin play, Germany’s Marc Muskatewitz was alone in third place at 5-2 after posting a 6-4 win over Czechia’s Lukas Klima.
Italy’s Joel Retornaz and defending champion Bruce Mouat of Scotland, both idle in the afternoon, were 4-2 with Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller, a 9-7 winner over South Korea’s Jongduk Park. The United States fell to 4-3.
The top six teams in the 13-team field will make the playoffs.
In Canada’s opening game, the teams traded singles over the first four ends. Gushue stole a point in the fifth and took control of the game with two more stolen points in the sixth end.
“Anton made some really good shots in the second and fourth ends to take away multiple-point ends for us,” Gushue said. “Both were really good shots. I still had a chance in the fourth end and didn’t execute it well, but he made two great shots to keep it close.”
Brad Gushue reaches milestone 50th win at world championships
Canadian skip defeats New Zealand 7-4 to improve to 4-1.
Gushue won gold in his first world championship appearance in 2017 at Edmonton. It was the last time Canada reached the top of the podium at this competition.
The 2006 Olympic champion has taken world silver on three occasions since, including last year in Ottawa. Gushue’s win Tuesday morning improved his all-time mark at the world championship to 50-11.
“When you hear it’s 50, it means you’ve been here a lot and it means you’ve won a lot,” Gushue said. “Fifty is a lot of games, so we’ve done something right. At the end of the day, we want to win on Sunday instead of focusing on 50 today.”
In the evening, Gushue opened with a three-ender and pulled away with three stolen points in the fifth end. Canadian alternate Kyle Doering replaced Harnden in the sixth end and the Americans conceded after scoring a single.
“I’ve still got to pinch myself that I’m here,” Doering said. “I’m having a blast.”
In the other late game, Japan’s Shinya Abe beat Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell 7-4.
Round-robin play continues through Friday night. Medal games are scheduled for Sunday.
Canada’s Rachel Homan won gold at the recent world women’s curling championship in Sydney, N.S. It was Canada’s first title at the event since Jennifer Jones was victorious in 2018 at North Bay, Ont.
Canada’s Gushue suffers first loss in men’s curling worlds
Team Canada suffers their first loss and goes to 3-1 at the men’s world curling championships losing to Italy 7-6 in an extra end. This is the first time Italy has beaten Canada in the world championships since 1986.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
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